Excavating tool for ditching or dredging machines



June 17, 1930. H. FISCHER 1,763,769

EXCAVATING TOOL FOR DITGHING 0R DREDGING MACHINES Filed Feb. 11, 1927I/YVEN TO K Patented dune 17, 19 30 mo risen-ea, or LUBECK, GERMANY,assrcnon. TO L'U'BECKER- MASCHINENBAU- GESELLSCHAIT, OI LUBE-CK, GERMANYA I'KCAVATING TOOL-FOR DITCHING OR DREDGING MACHIlIES Application filedFebruary 11, 1927, Serla1 No. 167,530, and in Germany December 3, 1925.

a My invention relates to an excavating tool for use in ditching ordredging machines or apparatus and more particularly to a tool in theshape of a blade-wheel adapted to be 5 driven by power so as to revolveabout-a horizontal axis and which is specially useful for cuttingditches and performing similar work either above or below the level ofwater.

I amaware of the fact that apparatus ineluding a bladewheel for ditchingor excavatmg purposes have been suggested heretofore.

Now the object of my inventlon is to provide a power-driven blade-wheelfor thepurpose above indicated which will not only serve as anexcavating tool but also act at the same time to convey and discharge ordeliver the excavated material to a certain place or places. I V

My invention'will be best understood by reference to'the followingdescription-when taken in connection with the accompanying illustrationshowing two specific embodiments thereof, while its. scope will be morepar-- ticularly pointed out in-the appended claims.

In the drawings,-Figure 1 shows in sectional elevation an excavatingwheel embodying one form of my invention; Figure 2 is a sectional sideview thereof; Figure 3 shows in side elevation-the wheel'in connectionwith its operating and driving elements; Figure 4 is a view similar toFigure 3, showingthe other embodiment of my invention, and Figure 5 isa. sectional illustrated inFigure 4. v

Referring to the embodiment shown in'Figures 1 to 3 I' havethereiillustrated my invention as applied to a boat or a similarfloatingstructure supporting the necessary operating and driving means.,-It will be seen, that the blade-wheel comprises two lateral disks aand Y a with a numberof preferably curved blades 5 inserted therebetweenan'd'rigidly connected therewith so-that the disks and the blades form arigid digging or excavating unit. The blades 7; are arranged in radialrelationship between the two lateral disks and their free or peripheraledges maybe sharpened-or provided with teeth; The. periphery of the twodisks may likewise be sharpened or provided 5 with teeth to ensure aready cutting action View of the blade-wheel the loosened soil to or infront of the blades.

.The described structure or wheel is loosel shaft 0 so as to be freelyrevoluble thereabout. The horizontal shaft 0 is provided with alongitudinal opening d and to this end the top part thereof is cut awayto the full length between the two disks a and a, as will be clearlyseen in Figure 1. The operation is as follows:

The blade-wheel is driven in the usual manner on or over the ground withthe aid of any appropriate driving means and the revolving motionimparted to the wheel will cause each-blade'to loosen and lift a certainportion of soil and drop the same through the opening d into the hollowshaft 0, as will be readily understood on inspection of Figure 2, meansbeing provided for continuously removingthe y mounted on a stationary oradjustable hollow soil from the hollow shaft so that the same cannotunduly pile up in or choke upthe hollow shaft, as will be explained morein detail hereinbelow.

As shown in the several figures of the drawings the freeperipheral edgesof the digging blades 6 are located approximately in alinement with theperipheral edges of the two disks a Vanda or, in other words, they liein the cylindrical surface of the two parallel disks. It goes withoutsaying, however, that r the two disks may be sized to project beyond theed es of the bladesso that the edges of the dis s will cut into theground to produce parallel cuts therein and thebladesthus will becapable of more readily removing the soil between. such two parallelcuts.

During each full rotation of thewheelthe single blades are raised orrise, from a vertical lowermost or digging position to an uppermostvertical position, over and above the opening of the hollow shaft so,that the soil lifted and carried along with the blade will slide off anddrop into the hollow shaft, and even any sticky soil of loamy or clayeynature will readily be discharged from the blade and drop into theopening of the hollow shaft when the blade passes'beyond its upper- Ipart of the wheel.

In connection with the adjustability of the shaft 0, it is to be notedthat there is connected to the bearing which supports the said shaft, ascrew shaft or worm w hich engages with a worm wheel at secured on theollow shaftd. The worm w may beturned by hand or in any other suitablemanner necting means. In the em the agenc wheels, s ch as k,

whereby an adjustment of the shaft 0 is effected.

I shall now proceed to describe by way of exemplification, the means forcontinuously removing the soil from the hollow shaft. As 'will be seenin Figure 3 the blade-wheel is employed for cutting a ditch and it willbe un erstood that the water in the ditch has free access to the hollowshaft of the wheel. The shaft is closed at its two ends and the tem.Obviously, however, any other suitable mechanism for driving the diggingwheel from a source of power may-be substituted for the drivingmechanism shown in Figures 4 and 5.

The soil received by the blades is thrown through the opening d of thehollow shaft 0 into. the latter, as described with reference to Figure2. The shaft 0 is open at one or both ends and a screw conveyor m ismount-- ed in the hollow shaft. The screwv is composed, in case thatboth ends of the hollow shaft 0 are-open as shown, of two discharginghalves the one half discharging the soil in the one direction and theother half in the other direction when or as the shaft n of the conveyoris caused to rotate. Any suitable means (not shown) for driving theshaft n may be employed. Apparently a screw conveyor adapted todischarge the soil from the hollow shaft 0 at one end thereof only maybe used and in this case the other end of the shaft 0 may be closed.Further, the conveyor may be of any other a propriate construction knownto persons 'lled in the art.

Means for raising and lowerin the blade wheel-is provided for preferablyin the form of an upwardly extending beam Q secured to the dredgingmachine at O. This beam is one end thereof is connected with apump fmade rigid by a frame work P bracing it of any appropriate constructionby means of a suitable conduit such as a hose 6. Supposin the pumg is atwork and the wheel is revo ving in t e bottom of the ditch inanticlockwise direction to remove soil in front thereof, the loosenedsoil will be conveyed by the blades to the hollow shaft in the mannerabove described and at the same time water will flow through the openingd into the hollow shaft so that the pum will act to remove from thehollow shaft a mlxture of water and soil in order to discharge anddeposit the mixhire at any appropriate place.

The pump f 1s driven by any suitable source of wer such as the motor 9which may be uti ized at the same time to drive the-bladewheel with theaid of an aaplplropriate conent shown in Figure 3, however, a separatemotor h is employed for driving the blade-wheel through of chains '8running over chain provided on the bladewheel'and on the shaft. of themotor'h,as will be readily understood by a person versed in the art.

' In the embodiment illustrated in Fi ures 4 and 5 the di g wheel isintende for cutting a dry itch or performing similar dry work. As willbeseen the wheel is provided'with two lateral bevel-wheels preferablyintegral with the two disks, respectively, and engaging with bevel gearwheels 1 on shafts journaled in suitable bea 5 adapted to be driven by amotor h t and ough the agency of an appropriate spur-gear syspreferab yto the roof of the dredging machine. A pulley R is mounted at the end ofthebeam Q and has trained thereabout a cable S, one end of the cablebeing attached at T. to the main supporting arm U of the blade wheel. Byexerting a pull on the other end of the cable it is seen that the arm Umay be raised or lowered to desired position.

In general I have not attempted to explain and show all of the minutedetails of the constructionof the apparatus, for it will be understoodby those to whom this specification is addressed, that the parts willnecessarily be of the usual construction, the proper size andrelationship and will be properly mounted and supported according to thetenets of machine-construction; nor have I attempted to illustrate theparts or details in their exact sizes and dimensions as many of theparts are conventionally shown.

It does not seem necessa to burden this specification with anexposltionfof the advantages which the invention possesses for they willbe apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates.

What I claim is A power-driven excavating tool of the character setforth, comprising a wheel havin two paralleldisks and anumber of radiadigging blades between and rigidly connected wi the said two disks, saiddisks and blades being coextensive in the radial direction of the wheel,a stationary hollow' shaft for said wheel to rotate thereabout, anopening in the said hollow shaft between the disks for the blades todischarge therein" the excavated material, and means for continuouslydisoharging the material from the said hollow v shaft, the latter beingadjustable with relation to the wheel, in order to repel-1y position thesaid'opening'in accor ance with the angular position of the excavatedmaterial discharged by the blades into the hollow shaft. Intestimonywhereof I afix m signature.

' DR; HINKO F SGIER.

